


The Moment

by TW Lewis (gardendoor)



Series: Satan and Lucifer [1]
Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-01-08
Updated: 2003-01-08
Packaged: 2017-10-29 05:47:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/316459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gardendoor/pseuds/TW%20Lewis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Magnus confronts Charles about his relationship with Gabrielle Haller.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Moment

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: They’re Marvel’s. Pity them. Thanks goes to Luba Kmetyk for beta reading.

“There must have been a moment in the beginning when we could have said no. Somehow we missed it.”  
\--Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.  


* * *

Note: In order to reconcile Marvel time and real time (without which, the original X-Men would be closer to sixty than thirty in the 1990’s) I’ve made all events happen earlier. The action will take place in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s; despite the fact that they originally occurred in the 70’s, 80’s or 90’s.

* * *

Charles Xavier frowned as he walked down the hospital corridor, glancing into a few rooms. He was supposed to work here? Under these conditions? This was the best hospital in Israel; once a British hotel. But the corridor was scuffed and dirty; the smells suggested less than modern medicines in use. He could only hope Gabrielle Haller had not sunk into deeper catatonia for lack of proper care.

Though if he needed to, he could find Gabrielle telepathically, Charles followed the odd volunteer Dr. Shomron had introduced him to, the one who had worked with Gabrielle. Erik Magnus was younger than Charles had thought at first, twenty-five at an outside guess. The white hair made him look older. Magnus opened the door to Gabrielle’s tiny room. She sat unmoving on the bed, not squinting in the slanting sunlight that threw her features into severe profile. Xavier turned to ask Dr. Shomron what her course of treatment had been, but his gaze caught the number on Magnus’s arm. “You were in the camps?”

Magnus’s frown deepened. “Yes. Do all Americans lack manners?”

Xavier smiled, hoping to smooth things over. “I’m sorry. I’ve never met a victim of the Nazis.”

“The victims are all dead. You’ve met two of us survivors. If you stay here much longer, you’ll probably meet more.” The irony in Magnus’s voice said, _*Get out of here, American. You’re out of your depth. We can help ourselves; we don’t need you.*_

Little did Magnus know. Charles was a mutant, one of few. He knew what it was like to be a hidden minority. He had as much right to be here as a mutant as Magnus did as a Jew. “I’d like to start working with Gabrielle immediately,” Charles said. “If we could have some privacy...”

Magnus and Dr. Shomron left the room.

Charles sat by Gabrielle, looked out the window. _What do you see, Gabrielle? Do you see the sun? The crowded street? Or can you only see horror now?_ He gently probed her barriers, the thick wall she’d thrown between her mind and the world, inadvertently locking herself in with her nightmares. He gently ‘walked’ the length of the barrier, touching it lightly, allowing her to grow accustomed to his touch in her mind. If he pushed too fast, he could hurt her.

At this stage Charles couldn’t make sense of anything. He could only feel her pain and fear, ripping his mind as terribly as his mother’s trauma ever had. When he finally pulled out, it was late afternoon. Charles kissed Gabrielle’s forehead and stumbled off to his hotel room.

His suitcases waited on the bed, and he decided to unpack them. It was clear he’d be staying a while. It might even be good to get an apartment in town, to save money. Charles stacked his books on the bureau, hung up his shirts and slacks, tossed his underwear and socks in a bureau drawer. When his fingers found the letter at the bottom of the suitcase, he paused. He’d memorized every word of Moira’s letter, the carefully phrased rejection, the veiled references to her new lover. He dropped the letter back in the suitcase, closed it up, and pushed it into the closet.

*****

Two days later, Magnus heard a retching sound coming from the men’s room and went to investigate. The American, Xavier, was throwing up in the toilet. “Does Israeli food not agree with you, sir?” he inquired politely.

The American looked up with red-rimmed eyes, stumbled over to the sink to wash his mouth and face. “The things they did to her. Horrible. I’ve never seen--”

“She spoke to you?” Magnus was shocked. And jealous.

Xavier paused. “Yes,” he said finally. He paused again and looked at Magnus. “Did they do those things to you?”

The old emotions came back, slapping Magnus in the face. Bitterness. Fear. Hatred. Self-loathing. “No. They did those things to her. They did other things to me.” He called up scathing words to drive away the questioning American. “There were ten million who died in those camps: Jews, Gypsies, madmen, homosexuals, political prisoners. Millions more survive, each with their own memories, their own hell. To lump it together, to say that we all suffered the same things, is to ignore the mass horror of it. It’s disrespectful to the dead and the living.” He walked out of the bathroom and went to look in on Gabrielle.

She was sitting by the window again, unmoving. “Gabrielle? Gabrielle, it’s me, Magnus. Can you hear me?” He waited a long time for an answer. None came.

*****

Charles had to keep reminding himself that he was making progress. Every day, he soothed more of Gabrielle’s mind, turned down the noise a little more. He gently taught her that it was over; it wasn’t her fault; she could put the memories away now.

“I don’t understand what you are doing that I was not,” Magnus asked him. “All you do is sit with her all day and hold her hand. I did that. I talked to her. I did everything I could, and you do nothing. And still she sits there. What exactly were you called here to do?”

“To help her,” Charles replied. “Magnus, about what you said earlier, you have to know I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Mm.”

 _*He’s deliberately making it hard for me. Why?*_ “I’m a stranger here, Magnus.”

“Most of us are. It’s a new country.”

“What I mean to say is, I haven’t had time to go out and make friends. But I have a deck of cards and a chessboard in my room, and some good wine, if you’d like to join me for the evening.”

Charles couldn’t read Magnus’s thoughts. But finally Magnus said, “All right.”

*****

Magnus arrived at the hotel room after dinner, still wondering why he’d agreed. Surely there were better ways to stay awake and fend off nightmares than to while away the hours with a man he disliked. Still, he could always leave.

The room was neat. Magnus wondered if Xavier was naturally tidy or if he’d cleaned the place up in anticipation of company. The desk was heaped high with books: a mixture of psychiatric treatises and volumes of poetry.

Xavier poured two glasses of red wine.

“L’chazak,” Magnus toasted. To strength.

“L’chaim,” Xavier replied. To life.

They drank the very good, old, French wine. They played a few games of poker and Xavier won a good amount of Magnus’s money. “If I didn’t know better,” Magnus joked, “I’d say you were psychic.” He wondered why that made the American turn serious. To put the man at ease, Magnus added, “I’ve been rude to you since your arrival. I’m sorry.”

“Then why did you do it?” Xavier asked.

“Always the psychiatrist, Herr Doctor Xavier?”

“Please, call me Charles.” He took a sip of wine and smiled. “Of course I’m always a psychiatrist. I’m always myself. Aren’t you?”

Magnus drained his glass in one swallow to force down his emotions. This unfortunately loosened his tongue. “I’m never myself. I’m usually someone else. And sometimes I’m no one at all.” Damn it! Why did he say that? Why give this man a lever to use against him? Magnus headed over to the window, looked out at the darkened city, its lights battling the night sky.

A hand touched his back. He jerked away.

“I can help you,” Xavier coaxed.

“Like you’re helping Gabrielle?”

“Yes. She's getting better, Magnus. Today she wept.”

Xavier’s words caused a rush of jealousy, quickly followed by hope. Could Xavier take away his anger, so Magda would be safe with him when he found her? Disgust drowned hope. A few days ago Charles had thrown up in the bathroom over something the Nazis had done to Gabrielle. How would he react when Magnus told him of the terrible acts he had committed in the camps and afterwards?

Magnus marched out without a word and slammed the door behind him.

*****

For the first time in years, Gabrielle Haller’s face was animated by intelligence and emotion. Her eyes found Charles’, and she threw her arms around him, weeping. “Danke! Danke!” she cried.

Charles reached into her mind and telepathically taught her Hebrew and English. After everything he’d done inside her head, it was almost instinctive to reach in and do what was needed. “It’s all right, Gaby, I’m here,” he said.

“I was locked away and I couldn’t get out, I couldn’t get past all the terrible things. But you came into my mind and you brought me out. Oh, it feels so good to talk and move again!” She stood up on trembling legs, drinking in the sights like a small child.

Then she saw her face in the mirror. She jumped back, then put her hand up to her face, gesturing and watching the gestures in the mirror. “It’s me,” she said in wonderment, “But I’m all grown up! How did I get all grown up?”

“You’ve been locked in your mind for a very long time, Gaby,” said Charles, turning her chin so she looked at him instead of at the mirror. “You’ve become a woman in that time. But now it’s time to let your mind grow up and match your body. You’ll get used to it soon, I promise. And I’ll be here to help you.”

*****

Gabrielle remembered Magnus calling to her, just as she remembered Charles, but Charles had touched her soul. In the weeks that followed, Gaby, Charles and Magnus became friends, but it was clear from the start that Gabrielle was in love with Charles. The three of them shared a two-bedroom apartment, and Magnus took the single room; though he objected that for decency’s sake the two men should take the double. The two men stayed up late most nights, drinking and debating the question of mutants. Charles seemed to think that soon all humans might evolve into mutants, but that for the present it was vital to create an atmosphere of tolerance and understanding for mutants until humanity came fully into a new era. Magnus wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry at Xavier’s naivete. Charles wasn’t a mutant or a Jew, like Magnus, he was of the rich, pampered elite. Charles had no idea what hatred was, or what it could do.  
But Magnus had other, more pressing concerns: As Gaby discovered what it was to be a woman, she eagerly began testing out her newfound desires on Charles, who readily accepted.

Magnus stared out the window at the busy street, constructing arguments in his head. If there was anything he’d learned in the past few weeks, it was that he couldn’t convince Charles Xavier of anything by arguing with him. But there had to be a way to get through to the man. Perhaps by appealing to his better nature? Magnus found himself liking Charles, he didn’t want to ruin the man’s career by making a public fuss.

The door opened and Charles and Gabrielle came in, laughing together, looking into each other’s eyes. “Charles,” Magnus interrupted them, “I need to speak to you alone. Now.”

Charles and Gaby touched hands as they parted, and Gaby headed off to the bathroom. The two men headed up to the roof. The air was cool, the view magnificent. Magnus barely noticed. “I must apologize in advance. My command of English is still less than perfect.”

“Your English is usually eloquent, Magnus,” Charles protested.

“Just the same. If I choose my words poorly, please bear with me.” He took a breath, pushed his anger down to the deepest level. He would need every scrap of control if he hoped to win this argument. “I saw the two of you today, down in the market.”

Charles had the decency to blush, at least. “It’s not your concern.”

“She is my friend. She was in the care of Dr. Shomron and myself before you came. And she is a fellow Jew. It concerns me deeply. Charles,” he exhaled deeply, “tell me honestly, in your professional opinion, do you think it is wise to entangle yourself romantically with a woman who is your patient, who has mental problems, and who, because of the catatonia you woke her from, is still in many ways a child?”

Charles glared. “I -- The matter--”

“Charles.” Magnus’s voice broke through the American’s bluster. “You are planning to leave soon, return to the States, yes?”

“What does this have to do with anything?” At Magnus’s silence, Charles said, “Well, I plan to travel first. See Egypt, at the very least. Maybe tour Europe.”

“Just the same. And Gaby will remain here?”

Charles frowned at that. “She’s free to go where she chooses.”

Magnus gestured, wracking his brains for the perfect phrasing. “Do you intend to bring her back with you?”

“I don’t like where this is going, Magnus. What are you trying to say?”

“Charles, you haven’t spent much time with Israelis. Only with the hospital staff, yes?”

Charles seemed taken aback at the latest sudden shift of topic. “Yes, why?”

“It’s a curious thing,” said Magnus, “Israelis are very welcoming. But they have little patience with Holocaust survivors, or anyone who needs help caring for themselves. They seem to feel that victimhood is contagious. Gabrielle will have little support once she leaves this hospital. If she can’t take care of herself, act as strong and wild as any other Sabra, she’ll be shunned.” Magnus waited a moment while Charles absorbed this. “Charles, it is apparent now to both of us that the Nazis raped her, among the other depravities they forced upon her. And you would take advantage of her?”

Charles narrowed his eyes. “How dare you insinuate such a thing! I would never do anything of the kind.”

“If that were true, you would have passed her case back to Dr. Shomron when you realized her unhealthy interest in you. Charles, tell me honestly that you think an affair between you would be in her best interests.” Charles looked away. There was a long pause. “Then you know the wrong you do. Charles, is this some problem of yours? Why can’t you, as the Americans say, pick someone your own size? Someone in your weight class?”

Charles’s voice was so low that Magnus could barely hear him say “There is no one in my weight class.”

What an egotistical thing to say! Assuming he was the strongest man on the planet! Magnus smiled sadly. No, that burden was not Xavier’s, nor any other normal human’s. Magnus alone held that terrible destructive force. “Somehow I doubt that. But whether you believe that or not, I need your word you will leave Gabrielle alone and give her case back to Dr. Shomron.”

Charles looked up then, naked rage and embarrassment simmering in his eyes, though his face was smooth and expressionless. “You have my word.”

Magnus nodded and headed off to bed, leaving Charles alone on the roof.

*****

Charles felt sick. Magnus was right. Damn the man for being so perceptive! Damn him for his mental shields against Charles’s telepathy! Magnus always unbalanced Charles because of it. And the man was so twisted inside, so hidden and angry. It was he who needed a psychiatric evaluation, not Charles. But Magnus was right. He’d overstepped a boundary, and unless he took steps to correct it, Gabrielle’s sanity was in danger. He debated simply going into her mind and erasing the memory of what they had shared. After all, her mind was so fragile that a forthright rejection from the only man she’d ever loved might drive her back into catatonia. But on some level he had to admit that the real reason he entertained that solution was that it meant she wouldn’t confront him with the damage he’d done to her. That realization made him decide to break up with her openly, verbally, and hope that the experience would strengthen her coping mechanisms so that she would be better able to handle real life’s traumas without further telepathic help.

He walked back downstairs and found Gaby and Magnus chatting. Magnus glanced up at Charles and gave a barely perceptible nod. “I think we’re out of schnapps,” said Magnus, “I’ll go get another couple of bottles from Dovinsky’s before they close.”

Gaby grinned as Magnus left. “He goes through alcohol faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. Both bottles will probably be gone before we even get to see them.”

Charles sat down on the upside-down crate beside hers. “I need to talk to you, Gaby.”

“Oh? Is this about the dress? I know it was expensive, but I just had to have it. I love red, and it looked so perfect on me.”

“No, this isn’t about the dress. Gaby, have you given any thought to your future? What do you want to do with your life, now that you are well?”

Gaby smiled and blushed, ducking her head. “Is this your way of asking me to marry you, Charles?”

“No, that’s not what I meant. You could go work on a kibbutz, or become an apprentice to someone and learn a career from them. You could even join the Haganah and fight to defend Israel, if you wanted.”

Gaby’s smile wavered. “Charles?”

“I did something very bad, Gaby, and I hope someday you can forgive me for it. You’re still learning how to be yourself, and recovering from what the Nazis did to you. It’s wrong for me to be involved with you. I’m in charge of healing you, teaching you about the world. It’s perfectly natural for you to look up to me, to fall in love with me, but I shouldn’t have responded. If the relationship wasn’t everything you needed or wanted, if it did more damage than good, you’d still be terrified to break it off, because you’d be losing your teacher and healer if you left your lover. It’s not--”

“How can you just speak for me like that? You think you know what’s best for me? I love you! I want to be with you! That’s what’s best for me!”

“You’re not a catatonic anymore; you don’t require a psychiatrist. But if you want one, Dr. Shomron will still be here for you. And the rent is paid on this apartment through the end of the month. You’re welcome to stay here or go wherever you like.”

“No, no,” Gaby whispered through her tears. “You can’t leave me. I need you to be here in case things go bad again. Please, Charles, I love you.”

“What if something happened to me? What if I died or became ill? You have to learn to stand on your own, to depend on yourself. That’s more precious than anything I could give you, because no one can take that away from you.”

Gaby hugged herself, tears flowing down her rigid face. “What about Magnus? Will he stay? You make it sound like I’ll be all alone, I mean in the apartment,” she added, struggling to seem less terrified than she felt.

Charles had kept a light mental rapport on her through the conversation in case she showed signs of slipping back into catatonia. He could feel the agony and fear he was causing her, but he had no choice if he wanted to resolve this. “I don’t know what Magnus will do. I imagine he will continue working at the hospital.” He worried briefly that Gaby would turn from him to Magnus, and that Magnus would reject her, making her feel that no one could love her, when the truth was that they loved her too much to ruin her life to make her feel better in the present.

Magnus tapped lightly on the door before entering with two bottles under his arm. He looked the two of them over for a moment, set the bottles down on the floor. “With your permission, Gabrielle, I think it would be best if you took the single room tonight and Charles and I used the twin beds. We can discuss more permanent arrangements in the morning, when there are better options available.”

“Are you leaving too?” Gabrielle cried, “You’re both leaving me!”

“I’ll still be in Israel sometimes. But I’m intending to quit volunteering at the hospital and join the Irgun,” said Magnus.

“The Irgun? You want to be a terrorist? Why?” Gabrielle seemed more angry than upset at this point.

“There are still many Nazis who have not paid for their crimes. And though Israel is now an independent state, the Mufti of Jerusalem and his followers are still a threat. They could make another Arab attack against us. Israel needs fighters now more than it needs leaders. Gabrielle, this isn’t the time for this discussion. We should all get some sleep. We’ll talk about this in the morning, when we’ve all had time to think it over.”

Gabrielle nodded agreement and walked off to Magnus’s room, slamming the door. She broke into sobs that Charles could hear through the wall, in addition to the grief he felt in her mind. He stood silently while Magnus picked up the bottles, walked into the larger bedroom and pushed the two beds apart. Charles followed him into the bedroom and closed the door behind them. Magnus turned off the light and they undressed in the dark and fumbled to their separate beds.  


  
“You did this on purpose,” Charles whispered softer than Gabrielle’s weeping.

“It’s time for me to move on. I didn’t want to leave before the situation was resolved.”

“You’re not going to join the Irgun, are you?” Charles asked.

“Not exactly. Haganah and Irgun are joining together to form a new Israeli army. I’m going to join their secret service division. I’ll track down Nazis, as I said.”

“Which will also allow you to continue your search for your wife.”

“The two are not incompatible.” There was a long pause where the only sound in the dark was Gaby’s muffled grief, winding down into sleep. “I’ll stay a little longer to make sure she’s all right.”

Charles heard the echo of a popping cork, then rhythmic swallows. Though Magnus’s mind was closed to him, Charles was pretty sure he’d lost Magnus’s respect. The man was a puzzle, but an intriguing one, and beside that, he had proven himself a good friend over the past few weeks, albeit an angry, brooding one. Magnus’s respect meant a lot to Charles, and it seemed a shame to throw a friendship away. “Magnus? I just wanted to thank you. I was wrong, and I needed someone to make me admit it.”

The swallows stopped. “So you can admit when you’re wrong,” said Magnus softly, “Good.” The swallows resumed.

Had he reconciled with Magnus? Charles had no evidence either way. He closed his eyes in the dark, closed his mind to Magnus’s impenetrable one, and tried to sleep.

*****

Magnus felt the heavy metal helicopters approaching before the first blast that knocked down Gabrielle on the far side of the hospital courtyard. Charles and Magnus both sprang forward to rescue her, but Magnus was more focused on the helicopters than on Gabrielle. He had to halt the problem at its source. He stopped in his tracks and gestured, and the fourth helicopter crumpled in the air, crushing all the soldiers in it.

Charles stopped and frowned at Magnus. “Did you do that?”

Magnus paused, but finally said, “Yes.”

“You killed them!”

Miraculously, Charles seemed much more upset about the fact of murder than the method of it. Perhaps his talk of accepting mutants was more than just talk. “Charles, those helicopters are full of soldiers, and the Haganah troops on call here can’t hold them off for long; they’re outnumbered and out-gunned. This is war. You fought in Korea, you should understand. But if you’re not willing to fight, at least get yourself and Gabrielle out of the line of fire and let me work!”

Charles’s face paled. “They’re after Gabrielle!”

“How do you know that?” Magnus demanded, but an enemy bullet to Charles’s head stopped any answers. “Charles!”

The bullet appeared to have glanced off the side of Charles’s head, but he was out cold for the moment. And in that moment, Gabrielle had vanished, probably into one of the helicopters taking off. Magnus reached for the nearest one and tore it apart, using the shrapnel to kill all the enemy soldiers he could see, but Gabrielle was not in that helicopter and Magnus was too drunk and strained to make a second attempt safely.

Charles was awake and watching him with dazed eyes. “We have to go after her.” Magnus helped him stand, and they both headed over to where Haganah soldiers slapped around a lone enemy pilot, trying to extract information.

“Hold him,” said Charles, “let me try.” He stared at the man for a long moment. “Your name is Rudolf Kranz,” Charles said in German, “Formerly of the SS Luftwaffen, now a member of an organization called Hydra. You have taken Gabrielle for the map to Nazi gold that was implanted in her mind.”

“H-how did you know that?” the man said, obviously as shocked as Magnus was.

“That’s easy, Herr Kranz. I read minds.” Charles met Magnus’s eyes as he said this, and a shock of recognition passed through Magnus. Charles was a mutant too! Had he read Magnus’s thoughts, his memories, as easily as he had read the Nazi’s?

“Is there anything else you need to ask him? Do you know where she is?” asked Magnus.

“They’re taking her to Africa,” said Charles.

Magnus caught Charles around the waist and lifted them both into the sky. “Tell me where to go,” he said, “we can talk on the way.”

“You can fly too?” Charles asked, astounded, “is there no limit to your powers?”

“I have very few limits anymore. Now tell me, Charles, tell me honestly. You used your powers to help Gabrielle. That’s how you reached her when I couldn’t. Yes?”

“Yes.” Charles clung tight to him as they flew over the landscape.

“Did you adjust her mind in other ways?”

“No. I taught her Hebrew and English telepathically, but that’s all.”

“I had wondered how she mastered those languages so quickly. You did nothing else to her? Do you swear?”

“I swear, I did nothing else.”

“Did you read my mind? Did you manipulate me?” Magnus shook Charles lightly. Charles clung even tighter.

“No, I swear I didn’t!” said Charles. “I never even read your surface thoughts, the way I do with those around me. Your mind is closed to me Magnus; I could never read it without your knowing, and I might not even be able to do it at all if you resisted me.”

Magnus could sense the flow of blood in Charles’s veins, his sense of iron a better lie detector than any machine. Charles was frightened, but he wasn’t lying. “I trust you, Charles.” He looked down. “We’re fast approaching Africa, Charles, I need better directions.” The helicopters had apparently landed already, there was no sign of them in the sky.

Charles looked down. “Truly amazing,” he whispered. His fear seemed to be fading, though his sense of wonder remained. “It’s like looking down on a map. Head for the jungle, Magnus, the western end of it.”

They landed near a cave slightly inside the jungle, where the Hydra agents had just found the vault of Nazi gold. Baron Strucker and his Nazis had tortured Gaby for the information they’d hidden in her mind. She’d gone into catatonia again. Magnus and Charles, dressed as Hydra agents, managed to get close enough to grab her. “Charles, wake her up, and let’s get out of here.”

“I can’t do that twice. If I do, any slight shock will send her back into catatonia, because she’ll assume I’ll always be there to bring her out of it.”

The other soldiers had noticed the two of them kneeling by Gaby, and began calling to them. “They’ve caught us!” Magnus hissed. “Can you manipulate their minds, control them?”

“I hate to do it, but yes, I can.”  


  
“Good. You do that, and I’ll deal with Baron Strucker.” Magnus focused and lifted Charles and Gaby in a magnetic bubble through layers of rock to the mountain above them. Then he gripped the gold in a similar bubble and flew it to the surface. Then he walked forward, creating a magnetic shield against the bullets, strolling to where the baron stood screaming orders. The baron’s men emptied their clips at Magnus, and when they realized they hadn’t damaged him at all, most of them ran screaming for the exit at the far end of the cave. Magnus flung the bullets after them at top speed and their screams abruptly ceased. The few soldiers who remained were as easily disposed of. The baron backed up against the wall, trapped. “It’s a pity I gained these powers only after the war’s end,” Magnus hissed. “But at least I have full command of them now.” Charles wasn’t here to restrain him. He could do whatever he liked to the baron. He picked up a few bullets from the floor with his mind and shoved them hard into the baron’s elbows and kneecaps, shattering the joints. The baron screamed and convulsed, flopping around helplessly on the floor. Magnus smiled. “Over the next six hours, as you bleed to death alone in the dark, I want you to think about my people. For we are coming to take back what is rightfully ours, and we are deadly when our anger is aroused. I hope the last thought that passes through your sick mind is what I will do to your children and your children’s children when I find them.” With that he burst upwards through the cave to join Charles and Gaby on the mountain top.

On the surface, Charles held Gaby in a close but chaste embrace while she wept. It seemed to Magnus that Charles really had changed. “How is Gaby?” asked Magnus.

“She came out of it on her own,” Charles said, staring up at Magnus as he floated in the air.

Gaby looked up, gasped, and turned pale. “Magnus?”

“He’s a mutant, gifted, as am I,” said Charles. “Magnus, I think it’s best if we do not return to the hospital after our dramatic exit. There will be too many questions.”

“I agree,” said Magnus. He gently touched down and set the gold on the grass. “Gaby, Charles can take you back to Israel in one of the jeeps your kidnappers left behind. Then I think it would be safer if you two headed your separate ways.” He lifted into the air again, ready to leave.

“Magnus!” shouted Charles, “Wait! I’m going back to America to make a school where mutants can learn to understand their powers. I would love for you to join me there. We could work together for mutant rights.”

“Charles, you are far too trusting of the goodness of man. The humans will tear you to pieces. No, our only solution is to fight, to snatch the reins of power and insure our survival. You haven’t seen what I’ve seen, Charles. The world is too ugly a place for your dream.”

“I’ll make you a deal, Magnus. Try it my way. Fight peacefully. If I’m right, you’ll only make matters worse by making mutants seem violent and dangerous. But if you’re right, I promise I’ll join you and fight beside you. I only hope that day never comes.”

Magnus paused. Charles had made it clear he could admit when he was wrong, even for a matter as serious as sleeping with a patient. Magnus could trust him to keep his word if this school didn’t work out. And it would be good to have a partner, an equal, to fight at his side. He’d been closed off, alone, for so long. “Very well, we will take Gaby back to Israel together. But I still think it is neither wise nor safe to take her with us where we are going. I still think we are opening ourselves to terrible attacks.”

Gaby stood up and stepped away from Charles, glancing at the two men in turn. “I think I still have quite a bit of growing up to do, anyway. I don’t think it would be wise to do that with either of you. I need time.”

Magnus floated over to her and kissed her on the cheek, warmed by the fact that she didn’t flinch away from kissing a dangerous mutant. “I’d be honored to keep you as a friend, Gaby.”

Charles reached over and stroked her hand. “I hope someday you can forgive me and we can be friends again, Gaby,” he said. Before she could answer, he looked up at Magnus. “Let’s go.”

Magnus lifted the gold up into the sky, high enough that it couldn’t be seen from the ground. Charles found a jeep and started the engine, and Gaby took the back seat, alone with her thoughts. Magnus took the seat next to Charles. First to Israel, then to America. It would be a long journey, but they had so much to talk about on the way.

End.


End file.
